Tundra Encounters

[I'm A Banana]

So my party will, in short order, be going to the Frigid North in order to see a crystal dragon who can read the stars and tell them the destiny of a single kobold that has eluded them for weeks.

The idea is that this crystal dragon lives basically at the North Pole, and uses the unending winter nights to foretell the future in the stars.

So, what should they encounter? I need more "tundra" than "glacial seas" ideas (polar bears and penguins and the Crystal Dragon pretty much take care of that!), and I already have some pretty solid exploration ideas in place to fight the cold and darkness, but I'm kind of lacking actual things to encounter in interesting ways on the way. So gimmie what you have!

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

Animals - wolves, reindeer; mammoths if prehistoric.

Undead - Tundra usually lies on top of frozen bogs, so frozen bog mummies and other frozen variants of watery undead (ooh! an ancient mammoth zombie!). And incorporeals.

Tribal humanoids. Hunter folk, live in tipis or lodges, drive sledges, raise reindeer, harvest mosses, etc.

Dwarves + Vodka.

Grey ooze in cold marshes; white pudding in snowy areas.

Will'o'wisps (some sort of cold variant?) might make sense given the frozen boggy conditions.

Fey (especially malevolent ones) tied to the chill, the aurorae, the long dark, hibernating beasts or plant creatures, lichens, icicles, frozen waterfalls, etc.

 

[Aberzanzorax]

If you're looking to spend some time there, you might invest in:


Northlands (Open Design, in print)

Frost and Fur (Monkeygod Enterprises, out of print)

Frostburn (WotC, out of print)



Here's a potentially useful thread, as well.

paizo.com - Paizo / Messageboards / Paizo Publishing / Pathfinder® / Pathfinder RPG / Advice / Archives / Arctic Tundra/Wasteland

 

[Crothian]

I would emphasis the weather, the cold, the lack of vision in a storm, getting lost, snow blindness, and other hazards that the group might not be 100% prepared for.

One item I had fun with ws a dagger +1, frost or something like that. But I described it as an unmelting ice sickle. One player had the clever idea to use to keep his drinks cold in warmer climates.

I had a light in the ice. They found a large glacier, block of ice and deep inside was something glowing. They had to use lots of fire spells to get to it and then they ended up freeing a trapped powerful fire diety. But you could make it anything you like.

Another thing I did was a civilization that was frozen. The gods had brough t destruction to them by just freezing them all and it created a mystery of what they had done and if they wanted to do anything about it.

 

[fba827]

weather and weather events to make the area aseem more than just cold themed but actually cold.

 

[Celebrim]

I like to customize monsters.

I'd be taking alot of normal monsters and ad hoc templating them as cold, templating hags as 'Rime Hags' for example. I also like creating monsters on the fly, so there would probably be frost sprites, tundra spirits, cold spirits and the like. I can also imagine both the Seelie and Unseelie court having palaces in the tundra, each one being ascendent during its appropriate season while the other hibernates.

But things I'd definately have in my frigid zones:

Frost Giants (This is the dominate civilization in the artic regions of my campaign world. Everything else short of a white dragon great wyrm is there at their sufferance.)
Goblins (Goblins have filled the eskimo/inuit niche in my campaign world, outcompeting humans and even dwarves in this environment)
Ice Mephits
Mammoths
Wooly Rhinos
Ice Elementals
Frost Wurm
Trolls (Trolls in my game are fey creatures, but with otherwise similar stats to the normal D&D ones.)
Grey Oozes
Marzanna
White Puddings
Snowflake Ooze
Remorhaz
Wendigo
Bhut
Werebears
Winterwolf
Wolverine
Sabertooth Tiger

I'd also do some research on Alaska and look for the most outlandish terrain I could find and then fantasy theme it: arctic dune seas, areas of hot springs and volcanism, glaciers, etc.

Other monsters that stike my fancy as preplanned (not necessarily wandering encounters)

Desiccator
Immoth
Drowned
Qorrash

Some monsters that seem ripe for transforming
Dust Wight -> Snow Wight
Dune Stalker -> Tundra Stalker
Water Wierd -> Ice Wierd
Sea Hag -> Rime Hag
Air Elemental -> Rime Elemental (by adding a cold subtype to it)
Drowned -> Frozen
Dune Hag -> Snow Hag

Manual of the Planes has a Cold Element Creature Template that might be used for some of the above (though probably with some tweaks).

I'd also probably apply it to:
Monstrous Spider
Viper
Shadow

 

[Starfox]

Remember, polar nights are not neverending, there is constant sunshine in the summer months.

 

[Ravilah]

I ran a North Pole themed game once.

There was a villain called the Red Necromancer, who had a lair full of elf-slaves, and who rode a chariot pulled by flying Dire Elk (the foremost of which had flames pouring from its mouth to lead the way on misty evenings). Once a year he left his lair in the Frosted Mountains and swooped down upon the native villages, stealing away their children and burning the houses to charcoal.

The taskmaster over his slaves was a massive, female troll named Carol (the ancient, yuletide troll) who wielded a spiked whip.

Guarding the pass through the Frosted Mountains was a huge construct of ice and snow, animated by the magical cap of human skin bolted to its head.

Beyond the pass was a labyrithine frozen bog inhabited by a massive yeti. The party found the yeti caught in a nasty trap, helpless and wounded. They chose to free it and everyday after that, it reappeared, bringing them a present. First it was just odd local birds, then rings, then human victims. It meant well, but eventually they had to kill it because it was killing so many innocent peasants (and ten local lords). It died with this pathetic look on its face of, "Why? I love you guys."

The Red Necromancer had a huge bag of holding just full of loot (and several pretty dolls...go figure).

 

[Razjah]

You can always just look in the monster manual/bestiary for cold type monsters or monsters that have that as an environment. Winter wolves and frost giants?

With the actual encounters make sure you use the terrain. Taigas have a lot of cover to offer, high winds make ranged attacks dangerous and inaccurate as well as causing issues for travel, deep snow causes a character to fall and requires a strength check or escape artist check to get out and the area is difficult/hindering terrain. Ice is treacherous. It breaks, it is slippery, it melts from a camp fire.

The cold makes metal armor a problem so be aware of anyone who has that. Endurance checks or survival or just a Con check to simulate the bitter cold metal draining the heat from the character.

Also remember that without many landmarks it is very easy to get lost.

Avalanches could make an intersting encounter- something like a snow bulette that causes an avalanche and uses that to make hunting prey more interesting.

Snow blindness? Hypothermia? Difficult travel in unpacked snow? Lack of good firewood could be a problem. Maybe have a couple modified spells like shape ice? Native that are eskimo like and hunt dragon turtles or your choice of a deep sea monster?



A random fire monster that is preying on the cold mosnters' weakness to fire would be interesting.

 

[Wild Gazebo]

Nomadic halfling caribou riders.

They could have all sorts of legends revolving around the crystal dragon...perhaps even worship it.